Press Releases

What is a press release?

A Press Release is an announcement distributed to the masses. An official written statement that is sent to everyone. This can include newspapers, website members, potential customers and bloggers. A press release is simply a brief article highlighting an event, new service or product or any piece of information by a business or organization that describes the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the story.


Press Release-O-Matic sounds like something I saw as a kid when I woke up during the middle of the night to sneak in some TV watching. However Press Release-O-Matic by Bill Myers is actually rather smart. It is a "fill-in-the-blanks" piece of software that helps you design simple but effective press Releases.

Instead of writing a press release in a typical word processor such as Microsoft Word, the “writer” simply uses the software's fill-in form. This includes various press release components. The software then generates a press release in a printable form and code that can be added to their website.

While Press Release-O-Matic won’t create a work of readable art it will create a simple generic press release. The software itself is not free but I have included a list of places where you can submit your press release for free.

If you would like tips on how to write your own unique press release here are three web sites for some simple suggestions on how to write a press release.

How to Write a Press Release

eHow

Microsoft Office Online



How will using a press release get me traffic to my website?

When other websites, blogs and the ultimate goal of members of the news media feature your story pulled from your press release, free publicity is being generated. Press releases capture potential customers which mean that your products and/or services will get noticed. A press release offers a way to become better known to the public.

Where to distribute press releases for free

• 1888PressRelease.com
• 24-7 Press Release
• AddPR.com
• BizEurope.com
• eCommWire.com
• Express-Press-Release.com
• Free-News-Release.com
• Free-Press-Release.com
• Free-Press-Release-Center.info
• FreePressIndex.com
• FreePressRelease.co.cc
• FreePressReleases.co.uk
• i-Newswire.com
• IndiaPRWire.com
• MediaSyndicate.com
• MyFreePR.com
• NewswireToday.com
• PageRelease.com
• PR.com
• PR9.net
• PR-Inside.com
• PRCompass.com
• PRlog.com
• PRurgent.com
• PRzoom.com
• PressAbout.com
• PressBox.co.uk
• PressFlow.co.uk
• PressMethod.com
• PressRelease.com
• PressReleasePoint.com
• TechPRSpider.com
• TheOpenPress.com

NOTE: I have not submitted press releases to each of these sites so I am not personally or professionally recommending any of the above websites. The above list is simply research I have gathered and am displaying here for your consideration. If I’ve made an error and any of the distribution sites isn’t in fact free, let me know, and I’ll remove it.

Guest Blogger

Being a Guest Blogger can help bring people to your website. It can be really tough just starting out with a brand new website. If no one knows about it you may feel really discouraged. However you can bring awareness to your website by doing a free guest post for other blogs that have fans / followers. Find and contact various popular bloggers within your niche market and ask if they’d be interested in a guest post from you. Tell them more about yourself and what kind of subject you would like to write about. Tell them your experience in that area as a way to let them know your posting would be valuable to his or her audience.

You may not get a lot of responses but you will receive a few golden opportunities. By being a guest blogger you will help bring traffic to your own website and creating a brand name for your business. Be sure to put forth your absolute best writing. If you have horrible spelling and grammar (like me) have someone edit the copy for you before giving it to the blog owner. Don’t forget to include

• Your name
• Title
• A sentence or two about your / your business
• Your website address

Five Bad Marketing Ideas

We have talked about good ways to market your website for free. Now let’s talk about some really bad way you should not market your website(s).

1) #1 on every single search engine

Submit your site to websites that are not on the top 3 directories and pay for it. There are a lot of scam companies out there that will do massive promotions such as
Be #1 on every search engine!

There are three top search engines (in my opinion). They are (starting with the best)

• Google
• MSN
• Yahoo

Companies that promise to take you to #1 on every search engine is a BIG red flag. They will charge you up to $1000 to put you on over 200 search engines...maybe even 500. However these 497 other search engines are getting their information from

• Google
• MSN
• Yahoo

2) Forum & Profile Spam

Three words -- DON'T Do It!

It is so annoying and this is one of the reasons I pick my forums and social networking community "Friends" very carefully. Here is a list of DON'T Do It! things.

List dozens of Web sites in your profile or forum discussions

Exclusively post only when you can add links to your sites

Become a new member to various forums every day, asking the same question at 20 different forums or groups on the same day.

Send your Friends links to your website without them requesting it


3) Blog Spam

As a blogger, this truly annoys me. Blogs are for information, news, product interest, humor, help / support, events and displaying your artistic talent.

Don't Blog Spam list

A blog full of nothing unique or relevant to the posting titles

Leave comments that is nothing but a website link

Leave a comment that says only "great blog" and a website address -- obvious spam!

Leave a comment with lots of web links and nothing else

Spam is bad and spammers should be fed a bowl of spam for every spam they send!

4) Walking Spam - Spam People in Person

Go to networking meetings, conferences, parties -- anywhere and talk about nothing but your website(s). products and how they should check you out online.

Ask or tell them they should link to your website without knowing them for even an hour.


5) CopyRight - WRONG!

Don't steal content published by anyone else -- copying an article and putting your name on it and blasting it for marketing purposes.

Don't publishing it on your website without giving credit or getting permission to repost it on your website or blog -- it is stealing.

Signature Block

Include your website address in your outgoing e-mail as a Signature Block
Signature Block is a ‘block’ of text automatically placed at the bottom of an e-mail message. When you choose to use a Signature Block you are sending the same ‘block’ of information every time you send an email. All email programs allow you to create a signature block that appears on every e-mail you send. You can also include your name, company name, email address and phone number if you choose to.

Hotmail / Live.com (new not classic instructions)

• Go to Options
• More Options
• Choose Personal e-mail signature

Type what your signature block will be. Here is an example
1) Shows that you can type the whole website address
2) Shows that you can create a link to your website using Insert Link

When you’re done click on Save

Your done! Now ever time you send an email your signature will be sent with it.





In Gmail
Go to Settings
Signature

You can't put links here so you have to type out the address.

Scroll to the bottom and Save Changes



Many email programs are the same. If you don't have a Gmail or a Live (Hotmail) account check your options and or settings for you signature.

Google Base

Google is the technically enhanced version of Craig’s List. While Craig’s List is a simple click click click o nline classified; Google Base is a detail enriched database into which any business or individual can add content. This includes articles, blogs, products, ebooks, websites and images. Like Craig’s List it’s free but it goes beyond online garage sales, personal rants and Personals. Because it is a Google service it will be found by a Google search engine. To make your website(s) search engine / Google friendly make sure to abid e by the Google Base Program Policies.

Highlights

* Your URLs must link to a working website. When your site is under construction or down for maintenance, you must pau

se your item.

* Your URLs must link directly to the webpages that contain information about your items. We do not allow links that redirect.

* We do not allow links to content or landing pages that require a registration or password to view.

Here is how to add your information to Google Base

Step 1

Got to Google Base

Step 2

Choose One At A Time

Step 3

"Choose an existing item type:"

Step 4

a) Title

b) News Source:
Text Name of your website

c) Author:
Text - If you are branding a name include it here.

d) Description -- what is the information you are submitting? Make sure to include your website address.

Step 5

Publish

This window will tell you when and what has been made searchable

About reporting and stats (from Goggle Help)

• Impr. (Impressions): The total number of times your item has appeared in search results since it was published.
• Clicks: The total number of times someone has clicked on your item in a list of search results since it was published.
• Page Views: The total number of times a searcher has viewed your base.google.com item page since it was created. Google Base doesn't count page views for pages hosted on your own website. If your item links to a page on your own web site, page views data will not be available for that item.